The creep behavior of simple structures with a stress range-dependent constitutive model

High temperature design remains an issue for many components in a variety of industries. Although finite element analysis for creep is now an accessible tool, most analyses outside the research domain use long standing and very simple constitutive models—in particular based on a power law representation. However, for many years, it has been known that a range of materials exhibit different behaviors at low and moderate stress levels. Recently, studies of the behavior of high temperature structures with such a stress range-dependent constitutive model have begun to emerge. The aim of this paper is to examine further the detailed behavior of simple structures with a modified power law constitutive model in order to instigate a deeper understanding of such a constitutive model’s effect on stress and deformation and the implications for high temperature design. The structures examined are elementary—a beam in bending and a pressurized thick cylinder—but have long been used to demonstrate the basic characteristics of nonlinear creep.     

Plastic behavior of some yield stress fluids: from creep to long-time yield

The yielding of several reversible yield stress fluids is studied during scissometric-like creep experiments. The temporal evolution of the apparent deformation is recorded for applied stresses close and below the usual yield stress. Similarly to solids, three main creep regimes are observed. First, a primary creep regime displaying a temporal power law evolution of the deformation rate occurs, followed by a temporal minimum, which leads to an apparent flow of the material. This local minimum, defined as the “transition time,” and the subsequent fluidization can be observed at long times. The evolution of this time as a function of the applied stress appears to follow a universal law reminiscent of fracture behavior in hard solids.     

Aging, rejuvenation, and thixotropy in yielding magnetorheological fluids

The yielding behavior of dilute magnetorheological (MR) fluids has been investigated using creep–recovery tests. At very low stress levels, MR fluids behave in the linear viscoelastic regime as demonstrated by the fact that the instantaneous strain equals the instantaneous (elastic) recovery. In this region, gap-spanning field-induced structures support the stress levels applied. Upon increasing the stress value, the MR fluid evolves towards a nonlinear viscoelastic response. Here, the retarded elastic and viscous strain decrease, and the plastic contribution to the instantaneous strain grows probably due to the appearance of unattached field-induced structures. A larger stress value results in a viscoplastic solid behavior with negligible retarded and viscous strain and a fully plastic instantaneous strain. Finally, a plastic fluid behavior is found when the stress value is larger than the so-called yield stress. MR fluids exhibit an intermediate behavior between non-thixotropic (simple) and highly thixotropic model yield stress fluids.     

Experimental investigation and modeling of non-monotonic creep behavior in polymers

The deformation behavior of two unfilled engineering thermoplastics, ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and polycarbonate (PC), has been investigated in creep test conditions. It has been found that a loading history (prior to the creep test) comprising of loading to a maximum stress or strain value followed by partial unloading to arrive at the target stress value can greatly modify the strain-time behavior. Under such a test protocol, while the expected increase in strain during creep (constant tensile load) is observed, at relatively low creep stresses specimens have also demonstrated a monotonic decrease in strain. In an intermediate stress range, specimens have demonstrated time dependent behavior comprising of a transition from decreasing to increasing strain during creep in tension. This paper presents experimental results to delineate these findings and explore the effect of prior strain rate on the qualitative and quantitative changes in the output (strain-time) behavior. Furthermore, modification of the viscoplasticity theory based on overstress (VBO) model into a double element configuration is introduced. These changes confer upon the model the ability to yield non-monotonic behavior in creep, and supporting simulation results have been included. These changes, therefore, allow the model to simulate strain rate sensitivity, creep, relaxation, and recovery behavior, but more importantly address the issue of non-monotonic changes in creep and relaxation when a loading history involves some degree of unloading.     

Anomalous predictions of pressure drop and heat transfer in ducts of arbitrary cross-section with modified power law fluids

 The apparent viscosities of purely viscous non-Newtonian fluids are shear rate dependent. At low shear rates, many of such fluids exhibit Newtonian behaviour while at higher shear rates non-Newtonian, power law characteristics exist. Between these two ranges, the fluid's viscous properties are neither Newtonian or power law. Utilizing an apparent viscosity constitutive equation called the “Modified Power Law” which accounts for the above behavior, solutions have been obtained for forced convection flows. A shear rate similarity parameter is identified which specifies both the shear rate range for a given fluid and set of operating conditions and the appropriate solution for that range. The results of numerical solutions for the friction factor–Reynolds number product and for the Nusselt number as a function of a dimensionless shear rate parameter have been presented for forced fully developed laminer duct flows of different cross-sections with modified power law fluids. Experimental data is also presented showing the suitability of the “Modified Power Law” constitutive equation to represent the apparent viscosity of various polymer solutions. Received on 21 August 2000     

Compression of an axisymmetric layer on a rigid mandrel in creep

An approximate solution describing the compression of an axisymmetric layer ofmaterial on a rigid mandrel under the equations of the creep theory is constructed. The constitutive equation is introduced so that the equivalent stress tends to a finite value as the equivalent strain rate tends to infinity. Such a constitutive equation leads to a qualitatively different asymptotic behavior of the solution near the mandrel surface, on which the maximum friction law is satisfied, compared with the well-known solution for the creep model based on the power-law relationship between the equivalent stress and the equivalent strain rate. It is shown that the solution existence depends on the value of one of the parameters contained in the constitutive equations. If the solution exists, then the equivalent strain rate tends to infinity as the maximum friction surface is approached, and the qualitative asymptotic behavior of the solution depends on the value of the same parameter. There is a range of variation of this parameter for which the qualitative behavior of the equivalent strain rate near the maximum friction surface coincides with the behavior of the same variable in ideally rigid-plastic solutions.     

A viscoplastic model combined smedamage and smeared crack for softening of concrete

A viscoplastic model accounting for developing damage in concrete is proposed by assuming the rate of damage to be dependent on viscous strain and stress rates. The damage is measured by a scalar parameter affecting both the yield stress and the material viscosity. For a post-critical range of deformation, the localized mode occurs for which additional constitutive equations are specified. The model is applied to simulate uniaxial strain rate controlled and creep response for the concrete.     

Prediction of the creep behaviour of polyethylene and molybdenum from stress relaxation experiments

In many applications it is useful to be able to convert observed creep data of a material to corresponding stress relaxation data or vice versa. If the material exhibits non-linear viscoelasticity such a conversion can be rather difficult. In this paper two semi-empirical flow equations, the power law and the exponential law, are used to convert stress relaxation data into corresponding creep behaviour data. These two flow equations are often used to describe non-linear viscoelastic behaviour. The procedure adopted here is based on the assumption that the creep data during the experiment decrease due to an increase in the internal stress level, thus decreasing the effective stress for flow. The conversion method is applied to high density polyethylene and polycrystalline molybdenum at room temperature. In general predictions using the power law are in better agreement with the experimental results than predictions using the exponential formula. The concepts of secondary and ceasing creep are discussed in terms of build-up of internal stress during the creep process.     

Interrelation of creep and relaxation for nonlinearly viscoelastic materials: application to ligament and metal

Creep and stress relaxation are known to be interrelated in linearly viscoelastic materials by an exact analytical expression. In this article, analytical interrelations are derived for nonlinearly viscoelastic materials which obey a single integral nonlinear superposition constitutive equation. The kernel is not assumed to be separable as a product of strain and time dependent parts. Superposition is fully taken into account within the single integral formulation used. Specific formulations based on power law time dependence and truncated expansions are developed. These are appropriate for weak stress and strain dependence. The interrelated constitutive formulation is applied to ligaments, in which stiffness increases with strain, stress relaxation proceeds faster than creep, and rate of creep is a function of stress and rate of relaxation is a function of strain. An interrelation was also constructed for a commercial die-cast aluminum alloy currently used in small engine applications.     

The rate dependent response of a bistable chain at finite temperature

We study the rate dependent response of a bistable chain subjected to thermal fluctuations. The study is motivated by the fact that the behavior of this model system is prototypical to a wide range of nonlinear processes in materials physics, biology and chemistry. To account for the stochastic nature of the system response, we formulate a set of governing equations for the evolution of the probability density of meta-stable configurations. Based on this approach, we calculate the behavior for a wide range of parametric values, such as rate, temperature, overall stiffness, and number of elements in the chain. Our results suggest that fundamental characteristics of the response, such as average transition stress and hysteresis, can be captured by a simple law which folds the influence of all these factors into a single non-dimensional quantity. We also show that the applicability of analytical results previously obtained for single-well systems can be extended to systems having multiple wells by proper definition of rate and of the transition stress.     

On the viscous and strain rate dependent behavior of polycrystalline NiTi

The viscous and rate dependent behavior of binary, pseudoelastic NiTi is investigated. The main focus is on the decoupling of thermal and viscous effects on the transformation stress level as the specimen material is subject to heating and cooling due to latent heat generation and absorption during phase transition. On this account, an active temperature control is proposed to account for swift temperature variations. In addition to uniaxial testing of the shape memory sample, two-dimensional tension/torsion experiments are conducted in order to generalize the uniaxial findings. Therefore, a two-dimensional strain measuring device is realized, which is capable of measuring large angle strains. Furthermore, the relaxation behavior of the examined NiTi alloy is explored as well.     

High temperature creep behaviour of an FeAl intermetallic strengthened by nanoscale oxide particles

The creep behaviour of an FeAl intermetallic strengthened by nanosized oxide particles has been examined at temperatures of 700–825 °C. For all temperatures the strain rate shows a power law dependence on the applied stress. At the lowest temperature and with the highest stresses there is evidence of a threshold stress produced by the difficulty of overcoming the particle barriers, while for higher temperatures as well as at low stresses there is no threshold stress and creep appears to be controlled by general climb. The fine oxide particles produce good strengthening at low temperatures but are more readily overcome at high temperatures due to their very small size and limited attractive relaxation force. Despite such fall in creep strength, this material remains one of the strongest iron aluminides to the temperature range evaluated.     

Transient and steady-state nanoindentation creep of polymeric materials

The transient and steady-state nanoindentation creep of polymeric materials was investigated. The creep model is used to explain the experimental data of transient and steady-state creep dominated by viscoelastic deformation and power-law creep deformation, respectively. The Burgers viscoelastic model was used to interpret the transient creep in polymers under nano-indentation. Explicit expression for the displacement of transient creep was derived using the correspondence principle of linear viscoelasticity theory. The power law of strain rate-stress relation was used to explain the creep displacement during the steady state. Three polymers of poly(methyl methacrylate), hydroxyethyl methacrylate copolymer, and the fast-cure acrylic resin were used to measure the nanoindentation creep. The transient creep data are in good agreement with the predictions from the Burgers viscoelastic model. The creep displacement is mainly attributed to the viscous flow of the Kelvin element, and the computed values of viscosities (η_1,c, η_2,c) increase with decreasing preloading rate. By comparing the steady-state creep data with the power law of strain rate-stress relation, the stress exponents for the above polymeric materials were quantitatively determined.     

Photomechanical behavior of cellulose acetate under viscoelastoplastic deformation

To confirm the possibilities of cellulose acetate as a material for a model analysis during viscoelastoplastic deformation, the time-dependent photomechanical properties of the material were examined by means of creep tests under constant stress and recovery tests after removal of stress. Consequently, though the strain and the fringe order of cellulose acetate during creep and recovery are greatly influenced by stress and room temperature, both of them can be described simply by a power function of time, and the coefficient of each of these formulas can be represented by a function of the ratio of active stress to yield stress only. The effect of temperature is included in the formulation of the yield stress. In addition, the strain and the fringe order can be represented by the viscous-viscoelastic model proposed by Findleyet al.,^1,2 in which both of them are divided into four components: elastic, plastic, time-dependent irrecoverable viscous and time-dependent recoverable viscoelastic. The relation between viscoelastic strain and viscoelastic fringe order, and the relation between viscous strain and viscous fringe order were verified to be equivalent to that between plastic strain and plastic fringe order, all of which do not depend on stress, temperature or time. Therefore, the strain distribution of cellulose acetate under viscoelastoplastic deformation can be determined directly from the value of the fringe order measured.     

The solid–fluid transition in a yield stress shear thinning physical gel

We present an experimental investigation of the solid–fluid transition in a yield stress shear thinning physical gel (Carbopol^® 940) under shear. Upon a gradual increase of the external forcing, we observe three distinct deformation regimes: an elastic solid-like regime (characterized by a linear stress–strain dependence), a solid–fluid phase coexistence regime (characterized by a competition between destruction and reformation of the gel), and a purely viscous regime (characterized by a power law stress-rate of strain dependence). The competition between destruction and reformation of the gel is investigated via both systematic measurements of the dynamic elastic moduli (as a function of stress, the amplitude, and temperature) and unsteady flow ramps. The transition from solid behavior to fluid behavior displays a clear hysteresis upon increasing and decreasing values of the external forcing. We find that the deformation power corresponding to the hysteresis region scales linearly with the rate at which the material is being forced (the degree of flow unsteadiness). In the asymptotic limit of small forcing rates, our results agree well with previous steady state investigations of the yielding transition. Based on these experimental findings, we suggest an analogy between the solid–fluid transition and a first-order phase transition, e.g., the magnetization of a ferro-magnet where irreversibility and hysteresis emerge as a consequence of a phase coexistence regime. In order to get further insight into the solid–fluid transition, our experimental findings are complemented by a simple kinetic model that qualitatively describes the structural hysteresis observed in our rheological experiments. The model is fairly well validated against oscillatory flow data by a partial reconstruction of the Pipkin space of the material’s response and its nonlinear spectral behavior.     

Non-linear viscoelastic behavior of polymer melts interpreted by fractional viscoelastic model

Very recently, researchers dealing with constitutive law pertinent viscoelastic materials put forward the successful idea to introduce viscoelastic laws embedded with fractional calculus, relating the stress function to a real order derivative of the strain function. The latter consideration leads to represent both, relaxation and creep functions, through a power law function. In literature there are many papers in which the best fitting of the peculiar viscoelastic functions using a fractional model is performed. However there are not present studies about best fitting of relaxation function and/or creep function of materials that exhibit a non-linear viscoelastic behavior, as polymer melts, using a fractional model. In this paper the authors propose an advanced model for capturing the non-linear trend of the shear viscosity of polymer melts as function of the shear rate. Results obtained with the fractional model are compared with those obtained using a classical model which involves classical Maxwell elements. The comparison between experimental data and the theoretical model shows a good agreement, emphasizing that fractional model is proper for studying viscoelasticity, even if the material exhibits a non-linear behavior.     

连续损伤力学基临界奇异指数与破坏时间预测

响应量在临近破坏时呈现出临界幂律奇异性加速特征,是一种被广泛证实的灾变破坏前兆,并被火山、滑坡和岩石破坏实验等后验预测结果证实为一种对破坏时间进行短临期预测的可行方法.但是,奇异性指数测量值的较大分散性导致了对其具体取值的争议和预测效果的不确定性.因此,理解奇异性指数取值特征及其内在物理控制因素,成为了一个核心问题.本文基于连续介质损伤力学和材料时间相关失效特征,构建了刻画损伤加速发展通向破坏过程的力学模型.导出了恒名义应力蠕变加载和控制名义应力随时间线性增大两种典型加载方式下,损伤和应变率加速发展通向破坏的临界幂律奇异性前兆特征.阐明了临界幂律奇异性指数取值依赖于材料损伤与承受真应力之间的非线性关系这一内在物理根源,表明了实际测量中奇异性指数的分散性不完全归结于测量数据误差,而是有着内在物理控制因素.针对破坏前奇异性指数的不确定性,建议了在未知奇异性指数条件下预测破坏时间的方法,并基于花岗岩脆性蠕变破坏实验进行了验证和说明.      

Phenomenological modeling of the response of a dense colloidal suspension under dynamic squeezing flow

The split Hopkinson pressure bar experimental technique is used to evaluate the squeezing flow response of a concentrated, discontinuously thickening colloidal suspension of spherical silica particles loaded at high stresses/strain rates. These results provide insight into the transitional behavior of these materials, as well as the post-transitional response under compressive loading. A method of analyzing the strain and strain rate dependent behavior is presented to identify modes of material response (viscous, elastic, etc.). Experimental results are presented as stress–strain–strain rate plots and a surface fitting approach is used to develop a phenomenological model describing the overall response. From this model, it is possible to identify regions of elastic and viscous behavior using a gradient analysis approach. It was found that, after an initial period of viscous deformation, the suspension behaves like a viscoelastic material – this regime corresponds well with transition in which large clusters of particles percolate. This is followed by a third, viscous regime in which the material undergoes viscous deformation. At the highest stresses, a plateau region of plastic deformation has been identified. This approach and the conditions under which it may be applied are described in detail in the paper.     

非定常微分型黏弹性本构模型

在应力作用下, 材料的力学参数随着微观结构的变化而变化, 需要考虑参数的时间效应. 利用黏滞系数随时间变化的黏性元件, 构造出非定常Maxwell模型、非定常Kelvin模型和非定常Zener模型. 求解非定常模型的微分型本构方程得到它们的松弛模量、蠕变柔量和卸载方程. 结果表明, 可以把常见的经验松弛函数和经验蠕变函数视为非定常微分型本构模型.